Folic acid-modified β-cyclodextrin nanoparticles as drug delivery to load DOX for liver cancer therapeutics

To get the safe and effective therapy for liver cancer, multifunctional nanoparticulate systems with therapeutic efficacy for biomedical application are progressing quite rapidly. The aim of the present research is to determine the potential of doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded folic acid–polyethylene glycol–β-cyclodextrin (FA–PEG–β-CD) nanoparticles (NPs) as drug-delivery system for liver cancer therapy. The targeting delivery of FA–PEG–β-CD was synthesized from FA and β-CD with PEG as a linker, which then loaded antitumor drug DOX to get the FA–PEG–β-CD/DOX NPs. The physicochemical characterizations including flourier transform infrared, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance, transmission electron microscope and dynamic light scattering, drug-loading content, drug encapsulation efficiency, blood compatibility, and in-vitro drug release were investigated. Finally, the in-vitro antitumor activity was estimated by HepG2 cells. The size of FA–PEG–β-CD NPs was about 20–80 nm, while FA–PEG–β-CD/DOX NPs was 30–60 nm. And the FA–PEG–β-CD/DOX NPs have drug-loading efficiency (11.9%) and encapsulation efficiency (95.2%). The in-vitro drug release results showed that the FA–PEG–β-CD NPs could not merely improve the solubility of hydrophobic drugs but also control the drug release. Blood compatibility assays revealed that DOX-loaded NPs did not induce blood hemolysis. In summary, the drug delivery of FA–PEG–β-CD NPs is suitable to carry the drug to the tumor tissues and release the drug effectively, and FA–PEG–β-CD/DOX NPs may be a potential platform for improving the treatment of liver cancer.